Movement for Social Democracy

The Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK) is a social democratic political party in Cyprus that was founded in 1969 by Vasos Lyssaridis. The party was originally a strongly anti-imperialist socialist party with roots in the struggle against British colonial rule, influenced by Ba'athism, Gaddafism, and Nasserism. By the 1980s, the party had evolved into a European-style social democratic party, but it did not give up its nationalist orientations. The party was opposed to the right-wing colonels' regime in Greece, although several Trotskyist members of the EDEK's youth wing were expelled between 1979 and 1984.